Bass don’t care whether you’re big or small but being in good physical shape has its benefits in bass fishing.  I used to play a lot of sports while in high school.  When I wasn’t fishing I was working on my baseball swing in the cage, swimming laps, or powering myself around the ice rink.  It was a lot easier to keep in shape back then because I was always active.  I took some time off from working out and I really started to notice it. I started getting back in the weight room this summer working out regularly is something that has improved my fishing tremendously.

When you’re out of shape the days can seem a lot longer. Your body starts to want to shut down because it isn’t working right.  Tournament fishing takes a lot of mental concentration and it’s hard to focus if you’re your bodies aching.   You start to drag and you’re not covering as much water, you’re not presenting your baits the right way, you’re not making your casts as accurately as you would like because your body keeps getting more and more tired.  Your mind starts to break down and you’re not making good decisions on the water because you are fatigued. In order to succeed in anything but especially in fishing you have to feel good about yourself and having confidence in your ability.  When you’re out of shape you don’t feel good and your confidence and drive can start to dwindle.

While out fishing we put a lot of strain on our forearms, our shoulders, legs, and our backs.  It takes some coordination to keep your foot up on the trolling motor all day and you can start to feel in your back and legs.  I really try to focus in on these areas when I’m working out because these are the muscles I use the most in a day’s worth of fishing.  Most injuries in fishing are due to wear and tear on our joints and limbs. Working out can help strengthen these areas so when we are out fishing our bodies are prepared to take the abuse.  For the forearms wrist rolls with dumb bells work wonders for strengthening your grip, your casting, and your hook setting power. For the shoulders you can take those same dumb bells and do shoulder presses and rotate them to get all angles.  For the back lat pulls and reverse sit ups work really well. Your core is important to your overall strength. Sit-ups are also very helpful.  For the legs I like to work the leg press and get on the calf raise machines.

 After working these areas with weights I really like to get in at least 30 minutes of cardio each day.  Whether it be walking or riding a bike. I’m not training to run to first base in 3 to 4 seconds anymore so low impact exercises are what I’m concentrating on.  The great thing about riding a bike is that you can go a lot longer than you can run and still get in your conditioning.

It’s a lot easier for me to get up and fish the next day of a two day tournament if I’m feeling good.  Also I’ve noticed that the long drives home from tournaments are a lot easier on me as of late because I have more energy. You’ll be able to fish a lot harder in a day’s time and not feel like throwing up at the end of the day.  If you’re looking to improve your enjoyment as well as your game on the water head to the gym.  You’ll feel better about yourself and you’ll be able to focus your attention to the fish rather than your aching body.